F-35 is a popular bashing target on Hacker News. I think this is unfair. Yes, the program is worth $1.5TN, the most expensive procurement program in history. B

F-35 is a popular bashing target on Hacker News. I think this is unfair. Yes, the program is worth $1.5TN, the most expensive procurement program in history. But that's for its entire lifetime, of about 60 years. Per unit, an F-35 will cost about $100MM (even less than $80MM for the main version, F-35A [0]). A few days ago we've seen the first Boeing 777X taking a test flight. That's a commercial aircraft with a list price of $400MM per unit. It's essentially a big long tube with wings and engines. Yes, the tube is carbon fiber, the wings are foldable, the engines are the newest crown jewels of GE, but it's not a fighter aircraft designed to withstand 10G acceleration, be subject to catapulted take-off and arrested landing on an aircraft carrier, be able to go supersonic, and well, obviously it's not stealthy. So, given all that, the cost of an F-35 is not exorbitant. Oh, and you bet the F-35 is a huge jobs program as well. But it's not minimum wage jobs we are talking about. It's high end jobs. And the F-35 is a profitable export as well. An export that will benefit the US, but will benefit the buyers too. Poland will buy F-35. Poland is looking nervously at Ukraine, and how Russian troops and tanks are occupying big chunks of it. The day they get some F-35s in their hangars is the day they'll start sleeping a bit easier at night. Japan has some nice naval ships that are aircraft carriers in all but name [1]. But to be meaningful, they need aircraft, and F-35B will do the job. UK's Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier will also use F-35B. No other fighter jet will fit the bill, either for the Japanese or for the British aircraft carriers, as they are somewhat on the short side and F-35B can take off on short runways. Israel is already using F-35s for combat missions. For those who think manned military aircraft are a thing of the past, take a moment to remember the drone that Iran captured a few years ago [2]. Drones can be hijacked, or rendered ineffective via electronic warfare. Manned aircraft less so. The US is not shying away from heavily investing in drones, but manned aircraft will have a place in the military picture for decades to come. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_II https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izumo-class_destroyer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izumo-class_destroyer [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93U.S._RQ-170_incident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93U.S._RQ-170_incid...